WINNEBAGO MAN: cussing his way to internet immortality

Documentary films used to be the preserve of the famous - famous people, famous places and famous events, and if they weren't famous they were special or inspiring (see my earlier review of 'Best Boy'). Maybe it's the fault of The History Channel and the A & E Channel but it seems these days precious few film makers are interested in creating documentaries on worthy subjects. The focus has switched to mining pop culture's rich seam for subjects with instant name recognition, even if we don't actually know their name.

WINNEBAGO MAN is a perfect example.Director Ben Steinbauer sets out to find Jack Rebney, better known as 'Winnebago Man' or 'The world's angriest man' following his appearance in a compilation of outtakes from a late 1980s promotional video for Winnebago's RVs. The clips showing Rebney repeatedly losing his temper and swearing profusely as he forgets his lines made the rounds for years on VHS and then beame an internet sensation thanks to YouTube, but he appears to have vanished from the face of the Earth.
Steinbauer wants to discover what Rebney thinks of his internet notoriety and whether he's even aware of it. It's a thin premise for a 90 minute film but Steinbauer succeeds in stretching it out by creating drama where there really isn't any and endowing Rebney with far more meaning than he deserves.
Rebney's a cantakerous old coot living alone in a cabin in rural northern California. He's still got his foul mouth and short temper but he's not the cult figure that Steinbauer's so eager to paint him as. There's a couple of half-hearted attempts to launch him as a kind of video-blogging Howard Beale who's "mad as hell and isn't going to take it anymore" but it's clear that beyond a general dislike of the Bush-Cheney administration Rebney has no organised philosophy or message.
What's also very clear is that despite his often contemptuous attitude towards Steinbauer and the fans of his Winnebago outtakes, Rebney loves the attention and can't resist playing up to the camera. The real Rebney is finally forced out into the open when he attends a film festival in San Francisco celebrating the world of weird and wacky videos and comes face to face with his admirers. He turns into a gruff but sappy teddybear who has nothing but smiles, compliments and thank yous for those who've paid money to meet him.

It's not that his anger and profanity in those 1989 outtakes was an act, it's more that 20 years later he's not that same man however much he tries to turn back the clock for Steinbauer's camera. And while it might appear that it's the director manipulating his subject in an effort to create a story that fits his initial premise, the reality is that they're both using each other.
The result is a series of events that feel more staged than organic, and while it's certainly interesting to discover more about the star of this viral video sensation, WINNEBAGO MAN also destroys the magic. Just like in 'The Wizard of Oz' the man behind the curtain isn't half as fascinating as his public image.